Deputies: Couple try to steal woman's purse at Deltona Walmart

Wednesday

Nov 21, 2012 at 11:07 AM

The suspects then told the owners of the borrowed get-away car that someone tried to steal their purse.

PATRICIO G. BALONASTAFF WRITER

A couple who tried to steal a purse from an Osteen couple in a Walmart parking lot have been arrested with help of Seminole County deputies, a Volusia County sheriff's spokesman said.Tabitha NcNair, 27, and Steven Gilb, 26, were arrested Tuesday night in Seminole County and charged with robbery by sudden snatching and aggravated battery on a person over 65, said sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught.According to Haught, the attempted purse-snatching at 7:41 p.m. in the parking lot of the Deltona Walmart at 101 Howland Blvd. left a 69-year-old Osteen woman, Patricia Sikes, with a broken finger and her 69-year-old husband, Larry Sikes, with several bumps on his head.The Sikeses left the store and were walking to their vehicle when McNair grabbed the woman's purse from behind. Patricia Sikes held on to her purse and her husband grabbed McNair and "took her to the ground with the intention of holding her there while his wife called 9-1-1," Haught said.Witnesses gathered around but did not help because they noticed that Larry Sikes, who has a concealed weapons license, had a gun, although he did not arm himself with it, Haught said.As the husband held the struggling and screaming McNair on the ground, Gilb rushed over and unsuccessfully tried to drag him off McNair. He then hit Larry Sikes on the head repeatedly until McNair was able to break free. The pair fled in a Nissan Altima, Haught said.Volusia deputies with the help of a helicopter searched the area but didn't find the suspects. However, information from witnesses, including a license plate number, led police to the would-be robbers, Haught said.The car turned out to be borrowed and the owners said McNair and Gilb were living at the Royal Inn Motel in Sanford. The suspects told the car owners that someone had tried to grab McNair's purse but that Gilb had fought the attacker off, Haught said. Investigators, with the help of the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, found the pair at the motel and discovered McNair had two arrest warrants for failure to appear. Gilb said he had helped McNair get away from a man who was attacking her, but Gilb claimed he didn't know why the two were fighting. McNair said that she had only asked the victims for change when she was suddenly attacked. McNair and Gilb were booked into the John E. Polk Correctional Facility in Seminole County, each on $20,000 bail, Haught said.